November 20, 2007

Australia braces for higher chicken prices

The Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) warns that consumers will soon face higher chicken prices over continual high feed and grain prices.

The group said grain prices, which were a major production cost for the chicken meat industry, had been forced up because of drought.

The federation said grain was a major part of chicken feed for which there was no substitute.

The ACMF said feed represented more than 60 percent of production costs and grain prices rose by about 80 percent in the past year.

ACMF executive director Andreas Dubs said a record increase in grain costs meant chicken producers were experiencing a substantial increase in production costs.

He said ACMF was committed to supporting and protecting the interests of its farmers and finding new ways to improve efficiencies and pass on cost savings to consumers.

". . . the current drought is putting extreme pressure on the industry which can be expected to result in significant price increases for chicken meat, from whole chickens right through to further processed products," Dubs said.